Apple's smartphone market share increased by more than 5 percent in 2009 as total iPhone shipments surged by a massive 81.9 percent over 2008, a study released Thursday shows.

IDC's survey of the "Worldwide Converged Mobile Device Market" found that Apple shipped an estimated 25.1 million iPhones in all of 2009, well up from the 13.8 million shipped in 2008. In the fourth calendar quarter of 2009 alone, Apple shipped a record 8.7 million iPhones.

The study also shows Apple narrowing the gap with the No. 2 smartphone maker, Research in Motion. In all of 2009, RIM had 19.8 percent of the smartphone market, compared to Apple's 14.4 percent. But in the fourth quarter, RIM had 19.6 percent of the market while Apple represented 16 percent of shipments.

"Apple's iconic iPhone added another chapter to its short history by nearly doubling its shipments from the same quarter a year ago," the report said. "Demand for the Apple iPhone continued unabated during the holiday quarter, and agreements with multiple carriers within the same market enabled further distribution. The fourth quarter also saw the launch of the iPhone at one of the world's largest carriers: China Unicom."

Nokia remains the dominant market leader, though its presence continues to shrink. While the handset maker represented 40 percent of shipments in 2008, it took 38.9 percent in 2009, from a massive 67.7 million total handsets.

Nokia and Apple currently have a number of lawsuits directed at each other, making accusations of patent violations on both parties' behalves. As the iPhone has grown in popularity, Nokia has retained its status as the market leader, but has suffered significant losses at the hands of competitors.

The rivalry between Nokia and Apple even extends beyond the courtroom, with Steve Jobs last week declaring his company the largest mobile device maker by revenue in the world. Nokia later disputed that claim.

In fourth place for the year, the IDC survey found, was HTC, which shipped 8.1 million phones in the 12-month span, good for 4.6 percent of the market. Samsung took fifth place, with 3.3 percent and 5.7 million shipments. All other smartphone maekers accounted for 19 percent of the market, or 33.1 million total phones.

Motorola came on strong, though, in the fourth quarter, bursting into the top five at fourth place, with 2.5 million handsets shipped during the holiday season. Riding on the strength of its Motorola Droid, the company took 4.6 percent of the market in the three-month frame.

In all, 174.2 million smartphones were shipped in 2009, up 15.1 percent from the 151.4 million that shipped in 2008. The fourth quarter alone represented 54.5 million of 2009's total shipments.

"Four of the top five vendors established new shipment records for a single quarter, indicating strong demand in the market," said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobile Devices Technology and Trends team. "Increasingly, mobile phone users are seeking greater utility from their devices beyond telephony and messaging, and converged mobile devices fulfill that need.

"To help address demand, carriers took advantage of lower prices on many older devices, ordering additional units and, in turn, offering reduced prices to end users. It was the perfect set of conditions to push shipments to a record level."

Since we are treated to these articles about the smartphone market on a fairly regular basis, it would really help if you guys would define in the scope of the article what a "smartphone" actually is and the metrics being used by those doing the counting. It seems like the definition IDC uses might not be one that most actual smartphone users agree with.

I find it very, very, hard to believe that something like three times the amount of people using iPhones would opt for an N95 instead (or something similar), and to me, that category of devices is almost the only ones that are fair to compare with the iPhone.

It's a well-konw fact that Nokia floods the world with handsets and dominates the third world in particular with cheap flip phones. It's not surprising that Nokia would ship many times more handsets than any other company, but I personally doubt that many of these are "smartphones" and I suspect that Nokia's "smartphone" numbers are rather inflated as a result.

Since we are treated to these articles about the smartphone market on a fairly regular basis, it would really help if you guys would define in the scope of the article what a "smartphone" actually is and the metrics being used by those doing the counting. It seems like the definition IDC uses might not be one that most actual smartphone users agree with.

I find it very, very, hard to believe that something like three times the amount of people using iPhones would opt for an N95 instead (or something similar), and to me, that category of devices is almost the only ones that are fair to compare with the iPhone.

It's a well-konw fact that Nokia floods the world with handsets and dominates the third world in particular with cheap flip phones. It's not surprising that Nokia would ship many times more handsets than any other company, but I personally doubt that many of these are "smartphones" and I suspect that Nokia's "smartphone" numbers are rather inflated as a result.

I don't think I'm alone in this suspicion.

I don't think a lot of people care about the definitional hair-splitting that seems to so worry you.

Regardless of what you think it should be called, a lot of people are interested in knowing how Apple, RIM, and Nokia (and now, Motorola, and possibly Google) are doing with their non-dumb handsets.

I personally doubt that many of these are "smartphones" and I suspect that Nokia's "smartphone" numbers are rather inflated as a result.

I don't think I'm alone in this suspicion.

---

I agree.

David Pogue New York Times says there should be a new definition, maybe "app phones" for phones of iPhone level.

David Pogue: ""Smartphone" is too limited. A smartphone is a cellphone with e-mail - an old BlackBerry, a Blackjack, maybe a Treo. This new category - somewhere between cellphones and laptops, or even beyond them - deserves a name of its own."

Acknowledgments upfront... I haven't touched a PC in 20 years, having exclusively been a mac user the entire time (and an iPhone user for 2). That said, I love the little insular world that apple zealots live in... "What? These numbers can't be right? Everyone I know uses a iPhone?"

These numbers kinda blow a hole in the whole "Flash is dead 'cause it's not in the iPhone" argument. Within the year, the mobile-optimized flash player 10.1 will be on 66% of the smartphones (not including the "other" category, as those are unknown).

... and let the mindless, uninformed flash-bashing begin... the zealots are too predictable.

Acknowledgments upfront... I haven't touched a PC in 20 years, having exclusively been a mac user the entire time (and an iPhone user for 2). That said, I love the little insular world that mac zealots live in... "What? These numbers can't be right? Everyone I know uses a iPhone?"

These numbers kinda blow a hole in the whole "Flash is dead 'cause it's not in the iPhone" argument. Within the year, the mobile-optimized flash player 10.1 will be on 66% of the smartphones (not including the "other" category, as those are unknown).

... and let the mindless, uninformed flash-bashing begin... the zealots are too predictable.

Like I just said above.. How many models of smartphones does Nokia have?? 10? 20? How bout RIM?? 5? 6?

Apple has 1..

So yes, the iPhone is most likely the best selling smartphone in the world. However, Apple is not the biggest smartphone manufacturer in the world because they only sell one phone..

David Pogue New York Times says there should be a new definition, maybe "app phones" for phones of iPhone level.

David Pogue: ""Smartphone" is too limited. A smartphone is a cellphone with e-mail - an old BlackBerry, a Blackjack, maybe a Treo. This new category - somewhere between cellphones and laptops, or even beyond them - deserves a name of its own."

Mossberg is of the same opinion. He calls them "super smart phones"

Both say there are only a handful of phones of this level.

But most of the Apps aren't made my Apple anyway so then you would need to give credit where actual credit is due i.e, which App sells the most.

Apple - A little over 2.5 years. Let's be frank. It can't just be the marketing - otherwise you would see a massive exodus from iPhone ownership once something similarly cool (like Droid or Nexus) comes along. But the market doesn't show that to be the case. Perhaps. Just perhaps. Apple has delivered the kind of mobile technology people actually enjoy using.

But most of the Apps aren't made my Apple anyway so then you would need to give credit where actual credit is due i.e, which App sells the most.

Ummm. OK. Are you out in left field playing soccer today studly? What the heck are you talking about here? Without the platform, the SDK and the infrastructure, who the *herk* would even be making apps - except for the few that create the jailbroken ones. Try again. Focus on clarity.

I find it very, very, hard to believe that something like three times the amount of people using iPhones would opt for an N95 instead (or something similar), and to me, that category of devices is almost the only ones that are fair to compare with the iPhone.

North America accounts for 5% of the world's population. Nokia has rockstar status outside of North America. Also, many people are willing to put up with a slightly less good phone if it saves them several hundred dollars. Please don't assume that everyone thinks like yourself.

Quote:

It's a well-konw fact that Nokia floods the world with handsets and dominates the third world in particular with cheap flip phones.

Actually, it's mostly cheap candybar phones that Nokia is known for.

Quote:

It's not surprising that Nokia would ship many times more handsets than any other company, but I personally doubt that many of these are "smartphones" and I suspect that Nokia's "smartphone" numbers are rather inflated as a result.

Nokia's top three smartphone sellers are the N97, 5800 and E71. Do you agree that these three models are smartphones? If not, why not?

Every single Nokia smartphone runs either Symbian or Maemo. Both are smartphone operating systems by any accepted definition.

Quote:

I don't think I'm alone in this suspicion.

Ignorance is a common trait.

EDIT: Fantastic Q4 numbers from the top four. Glad to see everyone doing well.

And Apple's stock would skyrocket if a Verizon iPhone were ever announced. But looking at the growth it doesn't look like it will be long before Apple takes the #2 spot. RiM is growing just not as much as Apple, but most importantly to these top players is Android getting ground from multiple vendors. This is going to stunt growth, at least a little, across the board.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pjb00

These numbers kinda blow a hole in the whole "Flash is dead 'cause it's not in the iPhone" argument. Within the year, the mobile-optimized flash player 10.1 will be on 66% of the smartphones (not including the "other" category, as those are unknown).

For starters I don't recall anyone stating that Flash is dead. What was stated is that there is no viable version of Flash for mobile devices when the bellyachers were crying for it in 2007. It's now 2010 and the only platform that has it is Firefox on Maemo (which is turned off due to poor performance) but I don't see people jumping on board for that model just to get Flash in name despite it not offering what people want from Flash.

What does Flash coming "within a year" have to do with the iPhone today and why is it taking so long to come to other platforms. I don't see how Adobe's incompetence is Apple's fault but I'm willing to hear you out. Even after Flash 10.1 comes to these platforms it's going to be fun to see which, if any, can render a Flash site design around a full sized monitor on a 3" screen, how the resources will be stripped, the battery drained, the ability to play a simple video from Vimeo or Hulu, and how games and other sites will be interacted with since they tend to use keyboard commands. it'll be a hoot!

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

I looked at Nokias 20.8M smartphone number. Because it sounded a bit high to me.

In that quarter Nokia sold.....

4.6 million N-series phones. These are the high-end devices like the N97 which are often compared to the iPhone - and more importantly are priced like the iPhone.

6.1 million E-series - Which are the middle-of-the-road Smartphones.

And then it gets interesting.. The remaining 10.1 million are what they call "numbered Nokia Symbian devices". A good example might be the 5530 XPressMusic. These handsets are often called Musicphones . But because they run the Symbian OS and can be used to access the web, Nokia classes them as Smartphones. (Even though the users rarely use these features).

Once you look at this, it paints a different picture.

Despite its global dominance. Nokia are selling far fewer high-end phones than Apple. The majority of Nokia's smartphone sales are actually mid and low-end handsets which are typically given away for free in Europe with a mid-priced contract.

Apple will never get 100%, as has been shown by the MP3 market; but if the iPod is any indicator, then 75% market share is not unreasonable, which means that a lot of companies will be scrambling for that remnaining 25%;

I looked at Nokias 20.8M smartphone number. Because it sounded a bit high to me.

In that quarter Nokia sold.....

4.6 million N-series phones. These are the high-end devices like the N97 which are often compared to the iPhone - and more importantly are priced like the iPhone.

6.1 million E-series - Which are the middle-of-the-road Smartphones.

And then it gets interesting.. The remaining 10.1 million are what they call "numbered Nokia Symbian devices". A good example might be the 5530 XPressMusic. These handsets are often called Musicphones . But because they run the Symbian OS and can be used to access the web, Nokia classes them as Smartphones. (Even though the users rarely use these features).

Once you look at this, it paints a different picture.

Despite its global dominance. Nokia are selling far fewer high-end phones than Apple. The majority of Nokia's smartphone sales are actually mid and low-end handsets which are typically given away for free in Europe with a mid-priced contract.

C.

Hence the reason Nokia is crapping itself about RIM and Apple [especially Apple]. With the Android coming in they'll be trying to sue them as well.

David Pogue New York Times says there should be a new definition, maybe "app phones" for phones of iPhone level.

David Pogue: ""Smartphone" is too limited. A smartphone is a cellphone with e-mail - an old BlackBerry, a Blackjack, maybe a Treo. This new category - somewhere between cellphones and laptops, or even beyond them - deserves a name of its own."

Mossberg is of the same opinion. He calls them "super smart phones"

Both say there are only a handful of phones of this level.

A smartphone is any phone you can install third-party native apps too.

Nokia can produce those for a full retail price of close to $100, so you should just get over it.

Granted, six is a small number, but it's still bigger than 1. Even if we don't count gen-1 anymore, there's still more than one model.

No, storage capacities do not count as a different model.. They are still iPhones, same phone with more or less memory as opposed to RIM for example who has very distinct models, Storm, Curve, Bold and whatever else they offer..

If anything the iPhone had 2 models last year, the 3g and the 3gs, but even that's pushing it to count it as a different model for market-share purposes. It's still just an iPhone.

I looked at Nokias 20.8M smartphone number. Because it sounded a bit high to me.

In that quarter Nokia sold.....

4.6 million N-series phones. These are the high-end devices like the N97 which are often compared to the iPhone - and more importantly are priced like the iPhone.

6.1 million E-series - Which are the middle-of-the-road Smartphones.

And then it gets interesting.. The remaining 10.1 million are what they call "numbered Nokia Symbian devices". A good example might be the 5530 XPressMusic. These handsets are often called Musicphones . But because they run the Symbian OS and can be used to access the web, Nokia classes them as Smartphones. (Even though the users rarely use these features).

Once you look at this, it paints a different picture.

Despite its global dominance. Nokia are selling far fewer high-end phones than Apple. The majority of Nokia's smartphone sales are actually mid and low-end handsets which are typically given away for free in Europe with a mid-priced contract.

C.

And what is wrong with that? Nokia's goal is a smartphone for everyone. Not just those who can afford a phone that retails for $620 (the price Apple says they get for every iPhone 3GS). So, as an Indian, when you can get a touch screen smartphone with free GPS navigation for $100 what are you going to do?

And what is wrong with that? Nokia's goal is a smartphone for everyone. Not just those who can afford a phone that retails for $620 (the price Apple says they get for every iPhone 3GS). So, as an Indian, when you can get a touch screen smartphone with free GPS navigation for $100 what are you going to do?

And what is wrong with that? Nokia's goal is a smartphone for everyone. Not just those who can afford a phone that retails for $620 (the price Apple says they get for every iPhone 3GS). So, as an Indian, when you can get a touch screen smartphone with free GPS navigation for $100 what are you going to do?

There's nothing wrong with that.
In a few years time - ALL phones will be smartphones. Kids will open cereal packets and find free Smartphones inside. The kids will say "oh crap, its just another Nokia!" and drop it in the trash.

And that's why Nokia's claim to have sold 20M smartphones is so irrelevant. No one cares.

What matters is the ability to sell handsets that retail (unlocked) for more than $500.
It is the top-end that creates real profits.

Nokia as a mid to low-end handset maker is unassailable. No one will catch them in that space.
But I am not sure anyone wants to. There is just not enough profit in that market. It's a charitable venture. Like making netbooks.

Jody, I have always wondered what it is Nokia sells to get those phenomenal market share records. The N95 strikes me as pretty weak, and I've always assumed the cheaper models are, well, even weaker.

Obviously, Nokia is the world leader in cheap phones and that's not going away, or even threatened, anytime soon.

I think most of us are interested in the overall market share companies have in sophisticated, highly programmable smartphones like iPhone, Android and Palm. My impression was that Nokia's N95 was the only entrant that was even vaguely comparable to those, and in capability terms it is way behind.

How would you compare the cheaper entrants to an iPhone? What models are we talking about?

But most of the Apps aren't made my Apple anyway so then you would need to give credit where actual credit is due i.e, which App sells the most.

TS, this is what happens when you go out of your way to say something negative about Apple ... you run the risk of coming across as a person with little intelligence, or a doofus ... or both.

According to you Apple, who created the tools and infrastructure and the idea of the app store deserves no credit at all but the people who use it to make $$ they would otherwise not be able to do (probably) .... get all the credit. .... You may want to think this one through a bit ... to keep your stupidity from showing.

Apple, bigger than Google, √ ..... bigger than Microsoft, √ The universe is unfolding as it should. Thanks, Apple.

Granted, six is a small number, but it's still bigger than 1. Even if we don't count gen-1 anymore, there's still more than one model.

Are you Tekstuds cousin or something? How many iPhone models are available in stores today . That is the question, is it not? I see 3 ... 3G, 16g 3Gs and a 32g 3Gs ... count with me now 1,2,3 .... there, wasn't that easy?

Apple, bigger than Google, √ ..... bigger than Microsoft, √ The universe is unfolding as it should. Thanks, Apple.